VOA标准英语2012--NGO Dispute Means Fewer Monitors for Egypt Vote

 

NGO Dispute Means Fewer Monitors for Egypt Vote

Egypt's historic presidential campaign comes to a close with the first round of voting to choose a new civilian¹ leader.

The Elections Commission says there will be monitors from the Arab League, the African Union, and the European Commission. But there will be far fewer Americans observing this vote because of the pending² prosecution³ of members of three U.S. non-governmental organizations charged with improperly⁴ using funds and failing to register with authorities.

"Because of the whole NGO scandal and sort of the attack on foreign funding, this is going to be at a much smaller scale than it was for the parliamentary elections and than it should be," said Michele Dunne, with Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East at the Washington-based Atlantic Council. "There will be some monitoring going on. It'll be small scale. And at the same time, the elections themselves will be much larger scale."

Dunne says the size of this vote could overwhelm monitors. "The presidential election is even clearer and more exciting than the parliamentary elections were. So potentially, there are 52 million eligible⁵ voters, we could see 30 million or something like that turning out," she explained.

Dunne says she is also concerned about potential challenges to the outcome, as there is no clear procedure for appealing Elections Commission rulings.

Elections Commission Secretary General Hatem Begato says the integrity of the process is beyond question. "It is not in the interest of anybody to rig these elections," he said. "The higher presidential elections commission is made up of judges. These judges did not volunteer to monitor the elections. They were invited to, and they accepted the responsibility with pride."

State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland says the Obama administration remains⁶ hopeful that this vote will be a good one. "I think we are continuing to call on the election - electoral commission to do its job and meet the expectations of the Egyptian people that this will be free, it’ll be fair, it’ll be transparent⁷," she stated. "That there will be appropriate recourse if there are concerns and that that’ll be a transparent process as well."

Observers from the U.S.-based Carter Center are permitted to monitor this election. But they say they may not be able to determine whether the vote is free and fair because of electoral commission restrictions⁸ on their movements. 

1 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

2 pending   

prep.直到，等待…期间；adj.待定的；迫近的

参考例句：

• The lawsuit is still pending in the state court.这案子仍在州法庭等待定夺。
• He knew my examination was pending.他知道我就要考试了。

3 prosecution   

n.起诉，告发，检举，执行，经营

参考例句：

• The Smiths brought a prosecution against the organizers.史密斯家对组织者们提出起诉。
• He attempts to rebut the assertion made by the prosecution witness.他试图反驳原告方证人所作的断言。

4 improperly   

不正确地，不适当地

参考例句：

• Of course it was acting improperly. 这样做就是不对嘛！
• He is trying to improperly influence a witness. 他在试图误导证人。

5 eligible   

adj.有条件被选中的；(尤指婚姻等)合适(意)的

参考例句：

• He is an eligible young man.他是一个合格的年轻人。
• Helen married an eligible bachelor.海伦嫁给了一个中意的单身汉。

6 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

7 transparent   

adj.明显的，无疑的；透明的

参考例句：

• The water is so transparent that we can see the fishes swimming.水清澈透明，可以看到鱼儿游来游去。
• The window glass is transparent.窗玻璃是透明的。

8 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制